Asthma and COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) are chronic illnesses requiring lifetime therapy and affect 44 million Americans. The mainstay of treatment is inhaler therapies. The delivery of medications via inhaler is problematic causing decreased efficacy and poor patient compliance. Therefore there is a constant search for improving the delivery of drugs through inhalers and positive pressure pulmonary ventilation.
A problem with current inhalers is that they tend to deposit the medication in the oral cavity, not in the lungs where it is effective. Also, it is difficult to coordinate the delivery of the drug with the expiratory cycle. Because of these problems the accurate dosage of medication cannot be delivered and the treatment causes many side effects. In addition the current inhaler techniques are passive techniques that are based on the ability of the patient to suck the drug into the lungs. As their action on the patient is solely and totally drug-dependent, the above-mentioned faults cause a major problem to the user.
It should be emphasized that positive pressure ventilation devices provide respiratory support of the patient without significant change in the patient's lung function. Furthermore, the aforesaid devices do not have a prolonged influence on the patient's condition after treatment completion.
US Patent Application 20080156319 ('319) to Avni discloses a pulsating inhaler comprising a fluid oscillator providing a focused fluid column with a series of alternating high and low pressures zones, a drug dispenser adapted for releasing small and constant measures of at least one drug via the fluid column, and, at least one outlet orifice adapted to direct the focused fluid column towards the respiratory tract of a patient. The small and constant measures of the drug are delivered to the patient's lungs while its respiratory tracts are gently and continuously vibrated. As acknowledged, applying a sequence of pneumatic pulses to the patient's airways through the oral cavity results in therapeutic effects.
However, '319 does not teach protocols comprising optimal parameters efficacious in treating disorders or for uptake of medicaments.
Providing means and methods of generating and delivering discrete wave trains of different repetition frequencies and pulse amplitudes which are efficacious in treating pulmonary and breathing disorders would fulfill a long felt and unmet need.
Providing means and methods of generating and delivering discrete wave trains of different repetition frequencies and pulse amplitudes which increase the uptake of medications would likewise fulfill a long felt and unmet need.